By Connie Passalacqua Hayman aka Marlena De Lacroix In the effort to salve our wounds this summer, the canceled All My Children and One Life to Live sacrificed an essential element of soap opera: believability. All these people back from the dead simultaneously! Dixie! Leo! Zack! How are we supposed to buy any kind of reality behind it? … [Read more...]
Au Revoir, All My Children and One Life to Live
April 18, 2011 by 26 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix Last week I had a nightmare that All My Children and One Life to Live were canceled. And then the bad dream came true. But before we wallow in our own grief, let's take a moment to remember all the jobs that are being lost -- and all the acting careers that are now ending. So many people out of work! They are the … [Read more...]
Wrong is Right
October 8, 2010 by 9 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix I have to say I almost choked when I heard that Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati were re-signed to One Life to Live. Isn't this show dead last in the ratings and going even further south? Aren't they the duo that made Dorian a Valley of the Dolls shrew, had Todd sleep with Marty his prior rape victim, exiled the only gay … [Read more...]
What’s That Smell?
June 8, 2010 by 14 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix On Saturday, my husband Moose and I were driving on a back road through the Pennsylvania woods to have dinner at a very good restaurant. Suddenly a familiar tell-tale putrid smell entered the car. Skunk! I gasped and a few seconds later my eyes welled up in tears. No, the tears didn't come from the intensity of … [Read more...]
Kiboshing Kish: Betrayal and Malfeasance
March 16, 2010 by 21 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix I've had a lot of problems with One Life to Live over the last two years, but Kish (Kyle and Fish) was never one of them. The shocking write-off of these characters is wrong, wrong, wrong on so many levels. Of all the ways this failing soap could be improved, dumping Kish NOW isn't one of them. Goodbye Kish: Scott Evans … [Read more...]
Watching Sadism For Thrills: Soaps Are Not Snuff Films!
February 18, 2010 by 41 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix Recently I was asked by a fan why I am not posting much anymore. Here's why: Today on One Life to Live I watched a woman who had just delivered a baby graphically fall through ice and drown. Not three months ago I had watched a Does any TPTB on soaps, so desperate for ratings, actually have any moral sense at all, or even … [Read more...]
ABC’s Misguided “Sweeps” Tries to Feed Off of Guiding Light’s Death
September 11, 2009 by 12 Comments
By Marlena De Lacroix I usually don't read a lot of previews or spoilers. But what I've seen this week and what I've read for the rest of the month of September alarms me. The ABC soaps seem to think its sweeps month, staging stunts and attention-getting storylines that are de rigueur in crucial ratings-measuring months. September isn't one … [Read more...]
